Lubbock council OKs alcohol sales study

That means smaller stores with no drive-through windows, unless those stores were located in heavily industrial areas, and larger ones only in commercial neighborhoods with grocery stores.

While residents soon may ponder whether they want alcohol sold in Lubbock, planners are more concerned with what those stores would mean for the city's neighborhoods.

"Our main thing is not going to be alcohol - it's going to be aesthetic," said Bill Boon, a city planner.

The City Council on Thursday said Lubbock needs to prepare for alcohol sales, if and when the city some day goes wet. Packaged sales of alcohol, which exclude drinks in restaurants and bars, are illegal in Lubbock. It would take a hefty petition and voter approval to legalize package sales.

The council approved a resolution by Councilman Todd Klein asking city staff to study zoning classifications suitable for stores selling alcohol. Klein said he believes selling booze outside city limits puts drunken drivers on the roads and that the somewhat arduous process to legalize alcohol sales is similar to prohibition.

And while he's not starting a petition himself, he said talking about the issue at the council level is good way to raise public awareness.

"There are a lot of people out there on first blush that are apprehensive," Klein said. "Change can be a scary thing. There are people who will want to hear the issues discussed: In terms of zoning, this is what we are looking at.' "

But planning director Randy Henson said some of that already is on file - five pages of preliminary recommendations planning staff put together over the years in their "spare time."

He said they'll revise the information and share it with the city's planning and zoning commission later this year. Even if a petition on alcohol sales were circulated today, it would be May 2009 before an election could be held.

"We made the manager aware we had this (but) we never talked to the council about it," Henson said. "So it's not a surprise or a hardship on the planning department to begin the process for the planning commission."

News of the preliminary report was a surprise to Klein. And he said his vision deals more with bigger retail stores and how those are incorporated into the city's zoning classifications. Like other council members, he said he'd leave it up to the planning and zoning commission to formulate the plan.

"What we are doing, should we get there, (is the city would) have an ordinance in place to vend this commodity in a way that is lawful within existing city ordinances," Klein said.

The council approved the plan, 4-2. Council members Linda DeLeon and Floyd Price voted against it, saying they believe the city should wait until residents take up the issue. Even Klein said he wasn't being pushed to pass the resolution - he came up with the idea himself.

But other council members, including Mayor Tom Martin, said it was the council's job to plan for the future.

"You have to be out front on the planning process," Martin said.

It would take more than 15,000 signatures collected in 60 days to call for a citywide election on alcohol sales - a difficult task that those close to the process say is the biggest hindrance to a wet Lubbock.

In other business, the council denied a rate increase from Xcel Energy - something the utility company asked the council to do.

Xcel has proposed a nearly $12-per-month increase for cities in Texas. By denying the increase, Lubbock may join other cities in Xcel's appeal to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.